Philosophy of Science

Testimony common overviews Introduction In the field of philosophy, testimony is defined as the intentional transfer of a belief from one person to another. The transfer can be verbal, written, or signaled in some way. Issues concerning the epistemology of testimony have become increasingly discussed in contemporary philosophy, with the debate widening out from epistemology to other fields such as philosophy of mind, action theory, and philosophy of language. General Overviews Adler 2012  and  Green 2008  both offer excellent and in-depth introductions to the topic, with the added advantage that both of these articles are freely available online. For more involved overviews of the topic, in both cases written by a leading figure in the literature, see  Fricker 2004  and  Lackey 2010 . The latter includes an extensive bibliography. See  Lackey 2006b  for a sophisticated critical discussion of the recent literature on the epistemology of testimony t...

  Illusion , a misrepresentation of a “real” sensory  stimulus —that is, an interpretation that contradicts objective “reality” as defined by general agreement. For example, a child who  perceives  tree branches at night as if they are goblins may be said to be having an  illusion . An illusion is distinguished from a  hallucination , an experience that seems to originate without an external source of stimulation. Neither experience is necessarily a sign of psychiatric disturbance, and both are regularly and consistently reported by virtually everyone. The nature of illusions Illusions  are special perceptual experiences in which information arising from “real” external stimuli leads to an incorrect  perception , or false impression, of the object or event from which the stimulation comes. Some of these false impressions may arise from factors beyond an individual’s control (such as the characteristic behaviour of  light  waves that make...